Colombian Coffee is looking forward to appearing at the Expo

In late October, farmers in the western province of Antioquia in northwestern Colombia ushered in another coffee-picking season. In the misty plantations, the red coffee cherries are plump, rounded and shiny. The coffee cherries produced here are hand-picked and, after a series of processing, the finished products will be unveiled at the 4th China International Import Expo to meet Chinese consumers.

The coffee products here were first tested at the Expo last year. "When we attended the EXPO in 2020, we found some business opportunities and potential customers, but then realized that our coffee products at that time could not meet their requirements." Cardenas, vice chairman of the Kauka Riverbank Specialty Coffee Association, told Xinhua.

To meet the growing demand for coffee quantity and quality in the Chinese market, local farmers and entrepreneurs pooled their efforts to create the Kauka Riverbank Specialty Coffee Association.

At this year's Expo, seven brands from the plantations of the Kauka Riverbank Specialty Coffee Association will appear at the booth of Bassar Trading Company, offering a wide range of products for coffee lovers. Cárdenas said that opening up the Chinese market is conducive to allowing more Chinese consumers to understand Colombian coffee, and will also directly or indirectly help nearly 600 small-scale coffee growing families in the local area to improve their economic level.

Lajos, a coffee farmer from Santa Fe de Antioquia, said he was very happy that Chinese consumers could learn about his coffee brand through the Expo. "Since we can promote coffee to other countries, we can also bring it to the Chinese market, and the Expo is a good opportunity."

Bashtu, co-founder of Basal, said that since the first exhibition, the company has been "studying what flavors Chinese consumers like, what kind of product packaging they want" and so on. The continuous exhibition has led to an increasing variety of Colombian agricultural products promoted by enterprises, and special foods such as coffee, chocolate, dried fruits, and preserves have attracted more and more attention from Chinese consumers.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of washed Arabica coffee. According to the National Association of Coffee Producers of Colombia, the country's coffee production in 2020 is second only to Brazil and Vietnam. Coffee is widely grown in several provinces, such as Antioquia.

As an important export agricultural product, coffee has given birth to a number of excellent Colombian companies, and Gord's Coffee is one of them. Every coffee harvest season, coffee beans from various production regions of the country are transported to the company's factory in Medellín, through the basic processes of quality inspection, cleaning, roasting, etc., and then enter their respective production lines according to the needs of different products, and then sold to many countries.

After participating in the second CIIE, Goswell Coffee participated in the exhibition again this year, hoping to take this opportunity to provide more high-quality coffee and chocolate products to Chinese consumers. In the view of Gomez, the international business manager of Costa Coffee, the Expo is not only "an important platform for continuing to introduce (Colombian) coffee beans and coffee powder to the Chinese market", but also helps enterprises find business partners in China and try new cooperation models.

Gomez said that coffee consumption is growing in China, And Chinese consumers have higher and higher requirements for coffee quality, and Goss coffee will display its high-end brands at this Expo. The Chinese market has a steady development and great potential, and expanding this market is of great significance to Colombian coffee companies to "leverage the Asian market".